Code Name: Camelot (Noah Wolf #1)(66)

Jefferson laughed. “He’s not kidding,” he said. “One of those sheets, with only twenty of those dots on it, cost us almost eighteen thousand dollars. Our gadgets department didn’t even know those things existed until now.”

“You’re welcome,” Neil said with a smile. “Gratuities are accepted willingly. Especially if they’re in cash.”

“Okay, okay, the reason I ask is because I’d like to put a couple in the room I’m staying in, over there. Just in case somebody follows me back, or I have a reason to take someone back with me, I want to know somebody can listen in. Neil, can you show Moose how to monitor these things, so you can get some sleep now and then?”

Neil looked at Moose, then turned back to Noah. “I’ve got a tablet I can give him, so he can listen in. I’m not letting him touch my computer. Nobody touches my computer. But, yeah, that way he can sit there and listen to all the boring crap that goes on, so I don’t have to. I can be doing more important things, like analyzing the intelligence that comes in.”

“Okay, just make sure you guys work out a schedule so someone is always listening. You can use Sarah, too, as long as she’s just sitting around here.”

Tina brought out a huge tray and set it on a table beside them, then started passing their plates over. The whole process took only a couple of minutes, and she was gone again. Noah quit talking about business while they ate, but breakfast didn’t take very long. Twenty minutes later, they were finished and headed back to their rooms.

Noah had told Sarah to be ready to go at nine o’clock, then went back to his room and gathered the things he’d be taking with him. He had given Jefferson his genuine ID, and now had John Baker’s wallet in his pocket, as well as the passport. The other items he was taking with him went into one of his suitcases, including everything from the special shopping list. Several of those things were in bottles that looked quite medicinal, and had labels saying they had been prescribed to Mr. Baker. Other items seemed perfectly innocuous, and Noah wasn’t worried about a customs inspector giving him any static about them.

And then it was time to go. Sarah tapped on his door, and stepped inside when he opened it, then flung both arms around his neck and kissed him deeply.

“You know,” she said, “you could just take me with you. We can pretend we’re married at the hotel.”

Noah shook his head. “John Baker is a single man, remember? Might be kind of hard to explain a wife, all of a sudden. Let’s just stick to the plan, that’s what I need to do.”

Sarah tried to pout, but Noah simply turned away and started picking up his bags, so she sucked her lip in and glared at his back. “Fine,” she said, “but if you get yourself killed, don’t you come crying to me. Just remember, I tried to go with you.” She waited until he had all of his things ready to go, then turned and opened the door.

He followed her down to the parking lot, and straight to the car Jefferson had provided for. It was exactly where he had told her to look for it, so it wasn’t hard to find the black-and-silver Chrysler three hundred. She used the remote to open the trunk, and Noah put his luggage inside it. They got into the car, and Sarah punched up the Hampton Inn Juárez on the GPS in her phone, then began following its instructions as she drove through El Paso.

There was a line at the border, so it was almost an hour before they actually made it into Mexico. Noah was half surprised that they hadn’t been stopped and searched, like several other cars he had seen. Most of those had been newer sedans, as well, and he thought for a moment that Jefferson had made a bad choice. It wasn’t until they were passing those cars, and he got a look at the drivers that he understood.

Racial profiling was not only a problem in the United States, he decided, because the Mexican customs inspectors only seemed to be searching black and Hispanic drivers. He and Sarah, both being white with blonde hair, were waived on through.

They didn’t talk a lot as Sarah drove, but it took her most of an hour to get to the hotel, anyway. She pulled up in front, and let Noah go inside to get his room, while she waited.

A moment later, she was wishing she had her gun. There were probably a dozen Mexican men standing not five feet away from her car, staring at her and making what she was sure were rather sexist comments in Spanish. She was starting to get a little nervous when Noah suddenly reappeared. He motioned for her to open the trunk, and she reached down to push the button, then started to get out of the car.

“Kathy, honey,” Noah said with a Midwestern accent. “You don’t need to get out, sweetie. Thanks for the ride, but you get on home, now. Tell your daddy I’ll see him in a few days, okay?”

Sarah rolled her eyes, but smiled back at him. “Okay, Mr. Baker,” she said. “You know how to reach us if you need a ride back.” She started the car as he closed the trunk, and left rubber on the parking lot as she peeled out to hurry back to the Texas side of the border.

Noah, as John Baker, had taken a suite on the top floor, and two young bellhops ran to try to carry his bags for him, but he waved them away. He got into the elevator and rode it to the top floor, which was only accessible with his key card. When it opened, he turned to the right as the desk clerk had instructed him, and found his room only two doors down.

The suite was every bit as luxurious as any he had seen, and boasted not only a sitting room and bedroom, but also a huge whirlpool hot tub, as well as a jacuzzi in the bathroom. Noah shook his head, glad that he was spending Uncle Sam’s money, and not any of his own.